The Acolytes of Crane (Theodore Crane, #1)(108)

We took the path that Quasikeum presented earlier. We ran to the top of the structure through a tight stairwell, and at the top stood the Dark King. To my ultimate surprise, he left Kurod to fight us.

‘Is the Dark King abandoning you now?’ I growled to Kurod as Quasikeum teleported to a Tritillian Warship above. The ship left our sight through the thick whirly clouds.

‘I am a Driad, you pitiful slouch. I never run away from a good fight,’ Kurod said as he laughed from his belly and stroked his long beard. He tossed an imaginary projection into the air about twenty-five feet above us. He stood strong and unwavering.

The projection band on his bald head powered up. He was one, and then he was three, then five. Five bald and powerfully illusory Driad projections stood before us. Only one of them was real. The battle was about to begin, and it would be a clash of fantasy versus reality.

‘What the hell?’ Dan said.

‘Dan, put pressure from above.’

‘Got it! Ted, this jerk is going down!’

‘Mariah, you know what to do!’

‘Already on it, Theodore.’

‘Let’s see how you can do against three of us!’ I yelled.

I charged in, bellowing. I leapt into the air, and crashed down thunderously. My sword left a trail of light behind it like a sparkler on Independence Day, and as I brought it down upon a replica I thought to be the real Kurod, it instantly vanished. Wrong one.

‘Mariah hurry, take out the projection orbs,’ I yelled. On cue, she took out two in a row, with two left to go. We pressed the offensive against Kurod. I was tired and fatigued beyond belief, but I could not get any rest just yet.

‘Duck!’ Dan screamed.

I fell down to the floor purposely. A massive log swung by my head, missing my head by inches, but scraped my back. One of the remaining four Kurods had ripped a support beam out of the wall by telekinesis to crush me.

I lay there, pinned by the weight of the wooden trunk. If it wasn’t for my Elon armor, my chest might have been crushed. Mariah, using her rifle, took out the last two projection orbs. The replicas beeped as they zapped out of existence, leaving an enraged Kurod very much exposed.

‘Fire,’ I commanded, without hesitation. We had him now.

Dan fired controlled bursts from his plasma cannon, causing Kurod to tumble to the ground. He was down, but not out yet.

Then, the ZF-Targine rose up past the palace walls and hovered into our view. I squinted in an attempt to identify its navigator.

Mariah jumped up from her position and yelled, ‘Nilo!’

The cannons on the ship charged, and rapid automatic fire of plasma burst upon Kurod’s weakened position. Knowing the end was near, he bowed to us out of respect for our efforts. The blast incinerated him, and in a pink puff of mist, his body ceased to exist. Nilo safely landed the ship in the nearby hangar, then jumped out to rescue us.


Several beacons of light swooned in from the horizon. We recognized the make of these ships. These were the Urilian ships that belonged to Zane!

‘Zane’s sent ships after me!’ I yelled out to my team.

The Urilian vessels, however, were having a laser battle with the Dacturon warships. Explosions riddled the forest around the palace as the two sides traded fire. One turret near us blew clear up, leaving behind a smoldering inferno.

‘Let’s go, before a Dacturon warship decides to stick around,’ Nilo yelled, using the exterior speakers of the ship.

Mariah looked up at the sky. ‘The Dacturons are retreating!’ The battle had grown much more quiet.

‘Great!’ I hollered from underneath my trap, ‘Now Zane’ll be after me! Let’s go, quick!’

Mariah and Dan lifted the support beam that pinned me down, and ran up the ramp of the ship.

‘Nilo, thanks so much!’ Mariah hugged him.

‘Yup,’ Nilo boasted, ‘My target is done. King Trazuline ‘s gonna be tickled so pink, he’ll wrestle with a Cliguire if I ask him to!’

Dan and Mariah were stunned.

‘You’re the assassin?’ Mariah asked, incredulous.

‘You were in the stalbrux chamber with Trazuline?’ Dan stared at him, gaping.

‘I was hired to assassinate someone alright, and my job was complete. You thought I would get paid a million shorques to take out a human boy. My target was Kurod! I was hired by King Trazuline.’

Shots rang out near the ship’s bow. ‘We gotta go!’ Nilo yelled, and he ran to his captain’s chair.

‘Just a second!’ I yelled as I heard loud drumbeats and marching band music. I peered out one of the portholes of the ship, and my heart leapt for joy when I saw a huge procession, in front of the palace.

As hundreds of Elons cheered, I saw Jezra, resplendent in flowing purple robes, sitting firmly upon a throne, which was part of an apparatus that would have easily passed for an old sedan chair in Queen Victoria’s time. It was basically a carriage of splendor hoisted by loyal subjects, in this case her fellow Elons, grasping horizontal poles as they walked step by step. I too saw Pike, raising his fists in the air, full of jubilation. He was marching in front of his majestic wife.

The reality struck home into my heart. Jezra, actually Queen Jezra now, was assuming her rightful place as Queen of Tritillia. The deafening cheers reverberated through the ever-closing door of our ship before it firmly shut.